RDP: Building Democratic Cultural Infrastructure from the Ground Up---Native to and back home in the San Francisco East Bay, Cathy is an independent critical researcher, professor, cultural worker, and creative focused on power, culture, relations, and change. Formerly Private Principal Investigator for The Center for U.S. Rural Cultures Studies, Cathy currently teaches for Holy Names University in Oakland, California while acting as Educational Content Developer for The Relational Democracy Project. Cathy earned her Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University in 2005 and afterward taught for Peralta, San Francisco State University, College of Marin, and called Saint Mary's College of California her professional home for 8 years. Cathy has spent the last 5+ years immersed in and studying power relations and norms in a variety of related U.S. cultures.As a graduate student at Southern Illinois University, Cathy arranged for the first publication of and acted as editor for Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research, which continues to lead as a forum for high quality graduate student scholarship. As a new faculty member at Saint Mary's College of California, she established and directed a nationally award-winning forensics program. Her popular critical scholarship is published in various books and journals, and she is a San Francisco Commonwealth Club speaker alum. Cathy currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal for Critical Animal Studies and Kaleidoscope.Cathy can’t live her life without access to trees (@just.trees.yo ) and beautiful trails (@a.tree.and.a.turn @ebrpd). She hikes solo (#30trails30days), and while she’s gone, Sparkles the cat holds down the fort. (@lilfam.one). Proudly a San Francisco Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Saint 🏳️‍🌈. Available to consult; reach out on LinkedIn.